Monday, October 29, 2018

Sure, fake news is all the rage in the internet age, but we modern folk didn’t
exactly invent phony news stories. Hoaxes, biased reports, and sloppy
journalism have plagued the media since the invention of the printing press.
They say a lie can travel around the world before the truth can even put on its
pants, but often the lie lives on long after the truth has been revealed.
Consider these five stories that live on in legend today as some of the most
famous fake news events in history.

Bat People on the
Moon

In 1835, struggling publisher Benjamin Day attempted to
compete with New York’s many daily newspapers. Day published The Sun, a one –cent paper which attracted a readership of the city’s
working class. Day presumed that this audience, unsophisticated in the ways of
established journalism, would be receptive to news stories that were exciting,
if not exactly true.

Day hired Richard Adams Locke, a veteran newspaperman who knew how to cook up
drama in his stories. Noticing a trend in speculation about the moon and its
environment, Locke began a series on “great astronomical discoveries,”
supposedly made with a new high-powered telescope. The “reports” described a
moon surface filed with seas and forests, with huge pink and purple crystals
rising from the sand. There were moon bison, moon pelicans, moon zebras, moon
beavers, and most astounding, a race of flying bat people. The bat folk,
according to Locke, were four-feet high, flew with wings like bats, engaged in
conversation, and even had picnics.

Throughout the week the moon stories appeared, The Sun vastly outsold any other New York paper. Rightly irritated,
reporters at competing papers worked to reveal the hoax. (Locke had claimed his
information came from a scientific journal that no longer existed – always cite
verifiable sources!) Locke was shamed into admitting his ruse, suggesting it
had all been a good-natured satire.

You can imagine everyone’s disappointment decades later when the Apollo mission
revealed no moon beavers.

Poe’s Hot Air

Benjamin Day was eager to strike circulation gold again in
1844, when The Sun published another
hoax, crafted by a little-known short story writer named Edgar Allan Poe. Poe,
who would go on to infamy as literature’s master of the macabre, was then a reliable
junk news generator. There are at least six published accounts credited to Poe
that turned out to be fake news.

Capitalizing on the popularity of hot air balloon adventures, Poe published his
tale under the headline “Atlantic Crossed in Three Days, Signal Triumph of Mr.
Monck Mason’s Flying Machine!” Of course there was no balloonist named Monck
Mason, nor a fancy flying machine developed by the ridiculously-named Professor
Rub-a-dub, but that didn’t stop readers from devouring Poe’s story, full of fake
technical details about the fake journey.

Ironically, Poe had been privately annoyed that Richard Locke’s earlier moonmen
hoax had borrowed heavily from Poe’s short story, “The Unparalleled Adventure
of One Hans Pfall,” and perhaps hoped to best Locke in the newspaper hoax game.
Alas, Poe’s story didn’t have the electricity of the moon hoax, and few were
surprised when other newspapers failed to find evidence of the three-day balloon
trip.

Mark Twain’s Career Rises from the Dead

Celebrated American author Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) was in hiding. Suffering
from bad financial investments and disillusioned with public life, he was
living in London in 1897, trying to preserve his privacy. One of the few
contacts he had there was his cousin, James Ross Clemens, also living in
London, who had fallen seriously ill soon after their first meeting.

When the papers reported James’ illness, the address was mistaken for that of
his famous cousin, and rumors began to spread that the literary legend was
either dead or soon would be. A young reporter from the New York Journal, Frank Marshall White, was dispatched to Twain’s
home with the instructions, “If Mark Twain dying in poverty, send 500 words. If
Mark Twain has died in poverty, send 1000 words.”

White visited Twain’s home to find him alive and well. The author assured the
young man “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” White reported this
response verbatim, which soon became one of the most repeated and best-known
quotes from the highly quotable writer. The public was so delighted with the
story that Twain’s popularity took a turn for the better, and soon new works
were being commissioned from the long silent Twain.

This was good news for Twain, because what had really annoyed him wasn’t the report
of his death but rumors of his poverty!

War of the Welles

Orson Welles, the “young genius” of radio, needed help for his flagging Mercury Theater show. The program, which
adapted classic novels as radio dramas, had no sponsor and would soon be
cancelled without one. Welles devised a gimmick for his Halloween broadcast of
1938: an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of
the Worlds, presented in the style of an actual news program.

Welles and his cast created what sounded like real news reports of invading
Martians destroying whole cities with unstoppable death rays. Though
announcements were made that the show was pure fiction, Welles craftily kept
the warnings in the beginning of the show, waiting for the moment when
listeners would change stations and discover his Martian invasion mid-attack.

The broadcast created panic across the country. Police stations were inundated
with calls. Newspaper reporters rushed to cover the story. Doctors, soldiers,
and armed civilians reported for duty to fight the alien hordes. Bridges and
highways were jammed with cars as citizens tried to flee.

The next day Orson Welles gave his greatest performance as “innocent,
apologetic guy” at a press conference, claiming he and his company had no idea
their cute little radio show had caused such a stir. The performance was a hit.
The Mercury Theater got a sponsor,
and Welles got a Hollywood contract.

Candy Con

We all know the biggest danger on Halloween isn’t ghosts or witches or having
to listen to the “Monster Mash,” but poisoned Halloween candy, right? After
all, local police and hospitals routinely offer to examine or even x-ray children’s’
Halloween stash to search for needles, blades, or other foreign substances. That
proves it, right?

Fake news wins again! In this case, it isn’t just one junk news story about
deadly candy, but dozens and dozens of questionable reports, every year for
many decades. Joel Best, a sociologist at the University of Delaware, conducted
extensive research of poisoned candy stories in 2003. He found that, in reports
going back to 1958, there was only one verifiable newspaper story about a child
being poisoned with Halloween candy (by his own father). Every other story of
kids getting questionable candy turned out to be a false report.

So trick or treat with confidence! The candy is fine! (Except the Almond Joy.
No one should eat that stuff!)

Thursday, April 19, 2018

The SCC Library is proud to announce our new New York Times online
subscription! Now SCC students, staff, and faculty have free access to
daily New York Times articles and
their archive via the paper’s nyt.com website. Visit http://library.sccsc.edu/newyorktimes.asp to learn how to activate
your NYT account with your SCC web ID
and password for immediate access.

“But what’s the big deal,” you ask? “Isn’t TheNew York Times just another
newspaper?” Heck no! This is the “newspaper of record” we’re talking about! The Times has developed a reputation among
journalists and readers as the best quality American newspaper, lauded for its
thorough reporting and journalistic standards in the U.S. and internationally.
Plus The New York Times has an over
160-year history of innovative reporting and state-of-the-art publishing
methods. Here are just a few of the notable episodes in the history of The New York Times.

The Times’ Founder Fought Off Rioters with
a Machine Gun

In July of 1863, a draft was instituted to enlist recruits
for the newly-formed Union Army in anticipation of the Civil War. This sparked
the New York Draft Riots, in which those protesting the draft attacked the home
office of The New York Times,
violently denouncing the paper’s pro-union, anti-slavery positions. Times founder Henry Raymond and his
newspapermen held off the protesters with Gatling guns (an early form of
machine gun). The protesters, understandably unnerved by the resistance, decided
to go attack the office of The New York
Tribune instead.

The Times Exposed a Corrupt Political
Operation before it was Cool

Throughout the 1800’s, New York was largely managed by a
backroom-dealing, unofficial political “office” known as Tammany Hall, that
infiltrated city government with Tammany-approved politicians and their wives’
favorite nephews. The most notorious of these proto-mafiosos was William Marcy
“Boss” Tweed, who, though never elected mayor himself, essentially controlled
the mayor’s office. Tweed was known for being exceedingly generous with city
contracts, paying his favored tradesmen $40,000 for a broom here and $180,000
for a table and chairs there, until The
Times published details of New York County’s financial records. His
corruption exposed, Tweed died in prison, cursing The New York Times and its savvy readers.

The Times’ Famous Slogan was a Diss on Its Competitors

By the 1890’s, New York newspapers such as Joseph Pulitzer’s
New York World and William Randolph
Hearst’s New York Journal had
developed a well-deserved reputation for their “yellow journalism,” publishing
sensational, lurid, and often wildly inaccurate news stories to lure in readers. Times publisher Adolph Ochs began running
the slogan “All the News That’s Fit to Print” on the masthead of his paper,
suggesting The New York Times was the
proper choice for the distinguished reader too sophisticated for celebrity
gossip and photos of decapitated hobos. Readers agreed. Despite contests to
find a replacement slogan, Och’s masthead promise has remained in place since
1896.

The Times has Won More Pulitzer Prizes than
Any Other Newspaper

Beginning in 1918, The
New York Times has racked up 122 Pulitzer Prizes for excellence in
journalism. The prizes have been awarded for reporting on a wide variety of
subjects, including coverage of World War I, the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, architecture
criticism, war in Lebanon, toxic shock syndrome, the Challenger space shuttle
disaster, molecular biology, the reunification of Germany, the Sept. 11
attacks, Ebola, food safety, Hurricane Katrina, and even a multimedia
presentation about avalanches. This year, TheTimes won Pulitzers for reports on
Hollywood’s abuse of women, Russian interference in U.S. elections, and an
editorial comic strip about the struggle of refugees who fear deportation.

The Bombing of Pearl
Harbor Created the Times Crossword
Puzzle

The New York Times
Crossword Puzzle, the standard-bearer among puzzle freaks across the globe, was
not the sort of thing Times
publishers initially wanted for their lofty newspaper. Though crossword puzzles
gained popularity in the 1920’s, the Times
considered them “a primitive form of mental exercise.” It was not until the
bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 that an editor finally conceded that a
crossword puzzle might be a nice diversion for a readership weary of wartime
worries. No one knows who wrote the debut puzzle, but a large team of
contributing puzzlesmiths and associated word geeks create the crossword
section today.

The Times Helped Strengthen to First
Amendment

In 1960, The New York
Times ran an advertisement, written by a civil rights group, which
described actions by the Alabama police to curb their right to protest on a
college campus. The problem was that many of the claims were exaggerated or
false, prompting L.B. Sullivan, the Montgomery city commissioner, to file a
libel lawsuit against the Times.
Sullivan claimed he had been personally injured by the ad’s errors, seeing as
he supervised the police department, and the Alabama Supreme Court agreed.
However, when the Times appealed the
case, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the ruling, a case that established the
“actual malice” requirement in libel cases (injured parties must prove a story
was published with the intent to harm and that the publisher knew the story was
false). Nice shot with that “freedom of the press” play, New York Times!

The Times Fought a War Against the Pentagon
… and Won!

Daniel Ellsberg, a former State Department official, found
himself in possession of The Pentagon
Papers, a secret report compiled by the U.S. Department of Defense on the
war in Vietnam, and turned them over to The
New York Times in 1971. The Times
began publishing excerpts from the report, which revealed to their readers that
the U.S. had escalated their military efforts long before the public was
informed. Though a federal court injunction demanded that the Times cease publication of this “leaked”
material, the Supreme Court ruled that attempts to stop the presses were
considered “prior restraint” and upheld the paper’s right to publish. Score
another First Amendment victory for Notorious NYT!

The Times Won’t Drop F-Bombs … Usually

The New York Times
maintains a strict “watch the potty mouth” policy, refusing to publish bad
language or other material they deem offensive. In the 1950’s, a picture editor
was fired for running a photo of Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio locked in an
open-mouthed kiss. Twenty years later, a photo of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller
extending his middle finger at protesters was censored before publication (the
article stating only that Mr. Rockefeller “gestured three times with his
finger”). While certain widely-circulated videos in recent years have been
reported by the Times with their
four-letter-words intact, the paper has traditionally replaced such language
with the term “barnyard epithet.”

The Times Exercises Freedom of the Press …
with a Paywall

With the arrival of the internet, traditional newspaper
funding through advertising and subscription dollars began quickly drying up as
free content began flooding the web, including free online versions of
newspapers like The New York Times.
In 2011, the Times announced a
paywall for their online publication. Five articles per month are available for
free, but continued use of the site now requires a subscription, ranging from
$15 to $35 per month. The gamble worked. As of December 2017, the Times had doubled its readership over
the previous two years with 3.5 million paid subscriptions, insuring the
continued life of “all the news that’s fit to print.”

But the best news is that SCC folks still have access to The New York Times for free!

Just follow the instructions and link on this page to register and enjoy access to the Times and its archive courtesy of Spartanburg Community College!

Thursday, March 1, 2018

We know how it is. You’re researching Hamlet for that important
English 102 paper you have to write.
You’ve found tons of great resources in the SCC Library’s databases, chock-full as they are with online
journals, e-books, magazines, newspaper, and even audio files, but you’re still
interested to know more about Shakespeare’s classic.

Of course the problem is obvious: You forgot aboutvideo! Sometimes the best information comes in the form of good,
old-fashioned A/V, and as Shakespeare says, “The play’s the thing.” Written
material is vital, but if you really want to see Hamlet come to life in all its
gorey glory, video is the place to be.

This insightful and entertaining overview of Shakespeare’s masterpiece covers
the play’s major themes of revenge and death, as well as a focus on Hamlet’s
relationships with the women in his life, his mother and Opehlia. Leading
scholars discuss the plot and character motivations. Essential viewing for the
Shakespeare student!

Who knows better the story of Hamlet better than the legendary actors who
brought the play to life? Join Sir John Gielgud, Ben Kingsley, Richard Burton,
Sir Laurence Olivier and others as they discuss the substance and meaning of
the Shakespearian tragedy they know so well.

This television production from 1964 presents scenes from
Hamlet as interpreted through Comedia dell’Arte, the classic Italian genre of
comedy and pantomime. Think of it as Shakespeare by way of The Three Stooges
(with a little Jerry Lewis thrown in). The presentations emphasizes the comedic
nature inherent in the Bard’s works.

This documentary views Hamlet through a modern lens by examining the public
(and Shakespeare’s) relationship to our royalty. Learn what fascinated
Shakespeare about the frailty of monarchs and their families and how it is
reflected in the lives of the royal families today.

Explore Hamlet and the rest of Shakespeare’s classics through their history on
the motion picture screen. An endless variety of styles and reimaginings of the
Bard’s works have appeared throughout film history, and the many scenes
examined here help bring the majesty and mystery of Shakespeare’s world to
life.

If you’re off-campus, just use your SCC web ID and password to access the
videos or any other SCC Library database. And as always, ask the SCC Library staff if you have any questions about how to
research Hamlet (or ham radio or ham salad or Alexander Hamilton or ham near
anything!).

Friday, January 5, 2018

Congratulations!
2018 is here, and you’re already committed to the New Year’s resolutions that
will help create the perfect you! You’ve put away the fattening foods. You’re
exercising more. You’ve curbed that filthy language and stopped biting your
nails. Most important, you’ve started a new semester at Spartanburg Community
College, and you’re committed to making the best possible use of the SCC
Library!

You’re doing a great job so far, but here a few more suggestions for
resolutions that will make your library experience everything it can be:

1. “I will bring my student ID.”

Remember: Your student ID is your library card. You’ll need it to check out
library materials, check your account status, request books, use library study
rooms, and pretty much anything that requires a library card. Make a resolution
to stop leaving it in your car, your other pants, or over at grandma’s house.
Keep it with you at all times and feel its power to rejuvenate your life!

2. “I will renew my library materials.”

You say that three-week checkout on your books wasn’t enough to complete your research
on ancient Egyptian hairstyles? You won’t believe how easy it is to renew those
books for an additional checkout period. Before the due date, just click this link to renew online or ask one of the helpful library staff to renew them for
you. Excessive library late fees can not only restrict your student record
during registration but can ruin your reputation in the community worse than
dandruff in your mullet. Resolve to renew!

3. “I will have my sources and formatting checked!”

MLA formatting, APA formatting…who knows what this stuff even means? The SCC
Library staff, that’s who! Not only have we provided handy guides to any and
all format and citation problems in our online MLA and APA research guides, but
the friendly library staff are available to review your citations and formatting
live and in-person! (No autographs, please.) Resolve never to turn in a
research paper again without first having it checked by the professionals. Your
grade point average will thank you!

4. “I will not plagiarize.”

We know you promised last year that you would stop copying from your sources
word-for-word, but some habits are hard to quit. We understand. That’s why we’ve
developed this online guide to avoiding plagiarism in your research papers.
Commit to learning the dos and don’ts of intellectual property theft. Your
friends will be amazed at your transformation into a copyright-law-abiding
student!

5. “I will use the library databases.”

We know you’re addicted to books, and who can blame you? But 2018 will be the
year you embrace the digital world with gusto! Make a vow to explore our
database and eBook collections to find an endless selection of quality sources
for your next research project. Search journals, magazine articles, newspapers,
and even your beloved books, all in easily-searchable digital format and
available off-campus with your SCC web ID and password. Narrow results with
advanced searching features, utilize the handy citation tools, and even print
the results to add to your collection of resources. The New You for 2018 is the
Digital You! Make the leap to databases and eBooks!

Starting the new year off right with diet and exercise takes will power, but
SCC Library New Year’s resolutions are easy! Just ask the library staff for
help. And be sure to explore our website for all your research needs. We’re
here to help make 2018 your best year yet!